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capecod-russian — 19.07.2015 Women of the Old Testament


The Old Testament has many stories in the center of which there are stunning characters of Jewish women. They are princesses and priestesses, beautiful, smart and courageous. Often they are put in the unusual, difficult and dangerous circumstances and their actions save their families and the Jewish people. In comparison, in the New Testament, there are essentially only two women, Mary the mother and Mary the Magdalene. Although they both play important role, they are not the main characters in the story and never are in position of saviors and heroines.

Below are some of the amazing stories of the women in the Old Testament.

1 Sarah and the Pharaoh of Egypt

Read Genesis 11:29-12:1-20

Sarah was matriarch of the tribes of Israel, their founding mother. She was the wife of Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch.  The main story is about Sara not being able to have a child that was a tragedy for a Jewish woman. She gave Abraham her Egyptian handmaid Hagar as a wife to bore a child for him. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael who is considered to be the ancestor to the Arab people. The story tells about a conflict between Sarah and Hagar and banishment of both into the desert.

Later Sarah, in spite of the old age (Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was past 90) give birth to Isaak who was another patriarch of Israelites. 

The most interesting, however, is the earlier story in which Abraham (then called Abram) and Sarah (then Sarai), together with Abraham’s nephew Lot, took the wealth and persons that they had acquired, and traveled to Shechem in Canaan. Abram was 75 at this time, so Sara was well after 60. This is the story of Sarah and the Pharaoh of Egypt.

The opening verses of the story throw us in at the deep end.

Famine drives Sarah, her husband Abraham and their flocks southwards into Egypt.

In this strange land they are small fish in a big pond, uncertain of the treatment that will be meted out to them by the Egyptians -  especially as Sarah is strikingly beautiful and likely to attract men's attention.

So Abraham decides on a strategy. He will pass her off as his sister, not his wife. This way, men will be more likely to treat the group well. If they see Abraham as her husband, they may try to kill him to get Sarah.

Sarah agrees. Is she coerced into living this lie? Or is she the originator of the plan?
It is impossible to tell, since we don't know what she feels about the matter.

Despite the later veneration of Sarah and Abraham, the Book of Genesis describes two people who are far from being saints. Later readers of the Bible gloss over the uncomfortable truths in this story.

What Abraham feared, happens. Reports of her beauty reach Pharaoh. Accustomed to the best, he has his soldiers take Sarah from her family, and pleased with her, he places her in his harem. Presumably he has sexual intercourse with her.

The reader is puzzled. Aren't Abraham and Sarah supposed to be paragons of moral  behaviour? Well, no. The hero of this story is God, not humans, and time and again he rescues people from themselves.

God has a long-range plan, and He is not going to let humans mess it up.

So Pharaoh and his country become afflicted with plagues, and when he finds out that Sarah is Abraham's wife, he views his misfortune as punishment from the gods for his inadvertent sin of adultery. He hastily restores Sarah to Abraham, and pays compensation - even though it is clearly Abraham who is at fault. Pharaoh's generosity contrasts sharply with Abraham's venal behaviour. Read

Genesis 11:29-12:1-20



Esther.

The story has three episodes:

1  Vashti was banished, and Esther became Queen. See the Bible text at  Esther 1 & 2
Queen Vashti disobeyed the orders of her husband King Ahasuerus, so he divorced her. Lonely, he sought a new queen who was to be the most beautiful woman in the land. A young Jewish orphan, Esther, was chosen.  She kept her Jewish identity secret. Her cousin Mordecai, a servant of the king, overheard a plot and warned his master through Esther.  

2  Esther saved Mordecai from Haman       Esther 3-8:14
Mordecai offended a high court official called Haman, who decided to kill not only Mordecai but all the Jews in the Persian empire (the first recorded pogrom against the Jews). Esther turned the tables on Mordecai. She pleaded with the king at two banquets she gave, and Haman was horribly punished. He was hanged on the very gibbet he had built for Mordecai.

3  Esther saved the Jewish people        Esther 8:15-10
Letters were sent throughout the kingdom repealing the decree and the Jewish people in Persia were saved.. There was great rejoicing, and an annual festival was celebrated to commemorate the courage of Esther and the deliverance of the Jews. This festival was called Purim.

Shiphrah and Puah.


Shiphrah and Puah are the two named midwives whom the unnamed pharaoh commands to kill the male children of his Israelite slaves. In a lovely twist of the Hebrew, we are not certain whether these two are themselves Hebrew slaves who refuse to betray their people or Egyptian midwives, representing the ever-present righteous foreigner. Either way, this pair chose the preservation of life, their professional identity, motivated by “fear of God” over obedience to their king. These two women are joined in Exodus 2:1-10 and 4:24-26 by Moses’ mother, sister, and wife, Zipporah, as well as pharaoh’s own daughter as a company of women who rescue baby Moses (draw him out of the chaotic waters) so that he might rescue others, drawing all of Israel out of the waters.


Modern commentators have wondered how two midwives could have served a whole community, even if the figure of 600,000 people (given in Num 1:46) is not taken literally. The obvious answer is that the text does not claim that Shiphrah and Puah were the only midwives to serve the Hebrews, but rather were two among many. Why then were they singled out? The tale implies that they are mentioned because of their virtue in fearing God more than they feared Pharaoh. In the Hebrew Bible, the phrase “fear God” can mean “obey God’s ethical imperatives” (see Lev 19:14 Job 28:28). It is noteworthy that Exod 1:1–2 in its highly schematic survey of Hebrew history from the descent of Jacob into Egypt until the birth of Moses, mentions by name only the midwives Shiphrah and Puah. The crucial role of the midwives in subverting Pharaoh’s decree is, perhaps, reflected in the Talmudic attribution of the redemption from Egypt to the merit of the virtuous women of that generation5.



Rahab, woman of Jericho.

Another fascinating foreign woman, Rahab, was a prostitute. Her profession is never held in judgment; rather, she is honored as the woman who protects the Israelite spies.


According to the book of Joshua, when the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the "Arabah" or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab's house, which was built into the city wall.


The 1st century AD historian Josephus, mentions that Rahab kept an inn, but is silent as to whether merely renting out rooms was her only source of income7. It was not

uncommon for both an inn and a brothel to function within the same building, thus going into Rahab's building was not necessarily a deviation from Joshua's orders.


The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies.


The soldiers sent to capture the spies asked Rahab to bring out the spies. Instead, she hid them under bundles of flax on the roof.


Like Shiphrah and Puah, Rahab lies to her king for the honorable goal. Like so many women without power, she becomes a righteous trickster. She hides the Israeli spies, feeds them, instructs them, and helps them escape. She and her family are spared the destruction of Jericho and live out their days as members of the community. Rahab, like other women whose presumed questionable sexual behavior is trumped by their faithfulness, is listed by Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus.


Rahab, The Harlot.

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